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Over the last few weeks, reports of AMD processor shortages have run rampant. Dell has said they have had a good supply of chips from the CPU maker, but others have said that the company's higher-end parts are difficult to come by for both OEMs and at retail. Ars talked to Stephen DiFranco, AMD corporate VP of marketing, and John Taylor, director of product communication, to get the scoop on what's causing the channel problems the CPU maker has been experiencing lately.

DiFranco says that the main issue is stronger-than-anticipated consumer demand which has peaked ahead of time. "Typically, the channel prefers a lot of inventory in December," DiFranco said. "This year we have seen demand spike earlier than anticipated, and our engineering inventory has been off."

While demand from Dell has obviously grown with the introduction of Athlon desktops and Turion laptops, AMD says that Dell is not the cause of the difficulties. "Dell is really not a factor," said DiFranco. "We just got notebooks on Dell's web site in the last couple of days, and desktops in the past six to eight weeks."

According to DiFranco, the issues this time around are of a different nature from the processor shortages the CPU maker experienced in late 2005. "At that point it was increased interest across our entire product line," according to DiFranco. "We had very good server products, very good desktop products, and we had just launched the Turion. At the same time, our competitor [Intel] was challenged a bit on chips. These are different dynamics."

Early next year, AMD will launch its mutisocket, multicore 4x4 platform. Even though it will take even more silicon to crank out two dual-core CPUs, AMD doesn't see 4x4 contributing to the supply issues the company has been experiencing. "It won't have any dramatic effect," DiFranco told Ars. "People interested in 4x4 are primarily gamers and the high-end desktop marketa special part of the marketplace. It's high-profile, but not high-volume."

Currently, AMD operates two CPU fabrication facilities, with some CPU production handled by Chartered Semiconducting. Fab 36 is churning out 300mm wafers while Fab 30 is still producing 200mm wafers. Fab 30 is in the midst of being transformed into Fab 38, which wil begin producing 300mm wafers once that transformation is complete. Taylor tells Ars that "Chartered is working with us to adopt AMD's patented Automated Precision Manufacturing and our lean manufacturing approach, which will eventually include 65nm." AMD's first processors made on a 65nm process will begin appearing next month.

With demand from OEMs strong, will the enthusiast community get the short end of the stick? "We don't expect our users to jump brand," DiFranco remarked. "Their loyalty comes from many years of dedication, and they're a sophisticated group. We think they will stay loyal over the long term; they're better served by sticking with AMD technology."

Both DiFranco and Taylor were mum on the recently announced Fusion project, which aims to stick CPU and GPU on a single piece of silicon. AMD will be offering more information on Fusion next month, along with an update on their overall product roadmap. That will include the first official glimpse at what the combined AMD-ATI has in store.